Earth Boy Charms
by Romicchi
Summary: How does Marco Diaz, a regular earth boy, handle Star Butterfly, a magical princess from another dimension, and the wild, unexpected, and exciting situations that they both end up in? Well. Like how they would usually react! As teenagers, and as themselves! You want to know what I mean? Read on to find out! This story is dedicated to Zehntacle's work called Princess Charms.
1. Pretending For?

Thursday, the fifth day of the week, was just a regular day for most people. There's really nothing special or anything worth celebrating on a day like this. Save for the fact that it's the closest day to Friday and Saturday which is what most people are eagerly waiting for due to whatever plans their youthful drive are leading them to. Or whatever crazy trend just popped up on the internet recently. Either way, plans are made.

Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz are not one of the aforementioned "most people". They don't need to look forward to weekends to make plans or anything, since they can pretty much just hop into any other dimension they wanted with a few snips of a dimensional scissor at anytime they pleased! But they can't skip classes though. Marco made it clear to the dimension-hopping princess that he doesn't want to have too many absences on his attendance record just because she wanted to quell her boredom by ditching school.

But on Thursdays, the duo celebrate a little holiday that they made up shortly after the hyperactive princess' arrival on Earth and formal introduction to Marco. "Friendship Thursday" as they had called it. He then recalled his first time meeting Star. The self-proclaimed "misunderstood bad boy" was called by Principal Skeeves over the intercom to see him, and was greeted by the sight of the stout principal holding a chest full of jewelry alongside a blonde, wand-wielding teenager about to engage combat with a water fountain. Marco was hesitant and had a slight aversion for Star at first. But after a cleared misunderstanding and a wave of monsters, Marco decided to give her a chance. Admittedly, it took a while for him to get used to Star's company, but you can only be bewildered by a person's odd personality for so long until it eventually becomes a part of "the norm" for you. And thus, the rest is history.

The timer rings, bringing Marco out of his happy little moment of reminiscence and back to reality. He rushes over to the oven to take out his infamous "Marco's Super Amazing Nachos", but not before putting his mitts on. "Wouldn't want to burn your hands now, would you?" Says the iconically dubbed "Safe Kid" to no other than himself. He never really liked that nickname. Marco sets the huge bowl of nachos down on the island and its amazing smell captivated him for a moment, he ate one, having a bit of difficulty with his mitts still on, and smiled to himself, proving that his nachos are ready for munching. He walks over to the fridge to look for the sodas.

Star, who was attempting to balance her wand on her nose while she waited for her best friend to finish with the treats, caught a whiff of said treats. And rushes over to the kitchen to ogle at the golden, cheesy, triangular goodness held in this big bowl. "Marco's nachos are finally dooooone!" she whisper-shouted to herself as she grabs one and quickly devours it. Her eyes went wide, shining and shimmering. Her best friend's nachos never ceased to amaze her. It was indeed a true masterpiece. Well, in her opinion anyway. They surely don't serve nachos THIS good in Mewni. She's not sure if they even serve nachos at all! Maybe they do? Wait, did they? She made a mental note to ask her mom or dad about that later. And speaking of which, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz were out to have dinner with their friends and told the kids to just enjoy their little movie night.

Marco returned with cans of sodas in his hands. Handing one to Star, he grabbed the bowl and headed over to the couch. "Star, you can stop staring at the nachos now." He grinned, he was glad that his best friend loved his creation. Maybe a little too much. "Did you put the movie in already?". Marco set the food and refreshments down on the table in front of them and plopped down on the couch, Star jumped over from behind the couch to claim her spot next to Marco, not like anyone else was going to take it. "Yeeees Marco, I already did." she stuffed her mouth with nachos, and Marco looked at her whilst clicking his tongue, sighing afterwards. "Oh Star, you never learn." He says in a grief-stricken tone, and this caught Star's attention, causing her to quickly gulp down the nachos in her mouth and stare at her best friend. "What do you mean?" she tilted her head to the side, and Marco looked her right in the eyes.

"That's not how you eat nachos." Star furrowed her eyebrows at his sudden change of tone and felt quite lost, until Marco grabs a handful of nachos and shoves them into his mouth. And so he proudly exclaims "THIS is how you eat nachos!" albeit sounding muffled due to his mouth being full, and bits of nachos flew out of his mouth as he laughed like a madman. This elicited a laugh from the princess, and decided to stuff her mouth in the same manner as he did. "Is this how you do it, you dork?" she asked, also sounding muffled due to the overflowing amount of nachos in her cheeks that made her look like a blonde, blue eyed chipmunk. Marco swallows the nachos and laughs at her attempt at cosplaying as a chipmunk without the actual costume, Star following with bellows of laughs of her own. This is one of the things they loved about Friendship Thursday. They can just be huge dorks and had good food with good movies. How could this possibly get any better?

Their warm laughter simmered down, and with huge grins, Marco decided to grab the remote and pressed play.

* * *

The bowl of nachos were almost empty, and only Marco's can of soda had a bit of its contents left. The pair was too into the movie to even bother getting a refill. The thought of a refill never even crossing their minds once as their eyes were glued to the screen, eager to know what happens next.

The movie was about two lovers whose relationship was...in a way, forbidden. Star picked this movie due to the fact that she took a liking for the cover's design and that it had hearts on it, like her cheek marks! Marco knew this was a terrible way to pick a movie, he was sure that she didn't even bother to read the description, but hey, it was a way to pick a movie nonetheless. Marco has never seen this one before, guessing that his parents must've bought this recently, he was quite curious to see what it was about. So he told Star to put the movie in the player before he went off to make the nachos. And so here they were, snuggled together in the blanket that Star had gotten for Pony Head, who apparently decided not to attend today's Friendship Thursday because she had a date with some hunk that always wore sunglasses, even indoors, in winter...at night time. Yes. Pony Head gave Marco this description. Except with more lovestruck eyes and giggles.(And not to mention that she was sassing the place up while she did so.)

A question arose in Star's head, genuine curiosity on her face as she turned to look at Marco and asked "Hey Marco?", he glanced over in her direction, "How do humans make these movies? Do they use some kind of cool earth magic to spy on these people and put them in the CD's for other people's entertainment?" Marco was now confused, "Uhh... spying?"

"Yeah! Look at how they change angles, and how they're always directed on the interesting people. What kind of magic do they use? It's like the time I used the all-seeing eye. Ohmygosh are all humans capable of using dark magic?"

"What? No no, Star. You got it all wrong." Marco turned his entire body to look at Star. "We use a camera to record these movies, you already know what a camera is. And no, Star, we aren't spying on these people." Star pursed her lips as if in doubt, and Marco took note of how cute she looked when she was doing that. "Are you suuuuure you aren't spying?"  
Star has been to other dimensions, seen lots of unimaginable things. That includes movies, short films, and documentaries of course. But she still hasn't realized the difference between documentaries and actual movies, she thinks they're both the same thing. So she figured that the earthlings were also just spying on other earthlings for entertainment. Marco chuckled, "Nah, the people in the movie are called actors, and they're just acting."

"Acting? Like pretending? What are they pretending for?"

"They're pretending to be the characters of the story."

"But aren't they already the characters of the story? This is all so confuuusing!"

Marco proceeded to explain the process behind film-making. How sometimes, movies are based off of books, the process of writing a script, people called "directors" that lead the actors, the fact that actors are real people with real lives and that they're just playing a character. And a lot more other movie related stuff.

Star always adored the way Marco explained things to her. He made sure to keep it simple, yet slightly detailed for it to be informative enough. Unlike those online wikis. She remembers the time she used Marco's laptop to research for her homework, the moment the page finished loading, she was bombarded by walls of texts, there were barely any pictures at all! She felt like her head could explode from too much information. It stressed her out. Luckily though, Marco summarized it for her and told her everything she needed to know for the homework. Of course, she got an "A" on that one, thanks to the boy who had high grades but claimed to be a bad boy, and a misunderstood one at that.

He finished his explanation, and now Star was more knowledgeable about the concept of movies. "Did you get all that?" Marco checked, "Totally totally totally, I get it now!" she said, nodding really fast and flashing a smile so bright that it could put the sun to shame. Well, the sun IS a star. But this one next to him was brighter, in Marco's opinion. Smiling at his own thoughts, Marco and Star turned back to the movie and realized that they forgot to pause while Marco went on with his explanation. Star used the remote to rewind it back to the scene they last stopped at. The scene had a couple on-screen, the main characters, both looking solemn. Having a conversation about how their situation really is. And how they want to deal with it. Their expressions genuine and believable, and the way they spoke really made you relate to how unfortunate they feel.

"Wow, they're REALLY good actors Marco." Star's eyes were wide. Feeling quite impressed knowing that these people were just pretending to feel saddened by their "circumstances". Marco folded his arms behind his back. "Psh. I've seen movies with way better actors. But yeah, gotta admit, these ones are also pretty good. Then again, what do I know about acting? The only acting I know how to do is 'acting like a screw-up' around Jackie." He laughed a bit, and Star gave him a little playful shove. "Marco, you and I both know that you're making great progress with her! You can finally speak in full sentences with her, that's something! And you aren't a screw-up, Diaz. Well...not anymore as far as I can tell" She giggled at that last bit, and Marco smiled at her. Full sincerity in his eyes.

"Thanks Star. I hope you're doing well with Oskar yourself. You guys talking more often?"

"Ohhhh, yeahhhh. Me and Oskar are like... super connected on like a sort of special way. I feel like every note he plays on that button guitar thing is secretly made for me~" Star started to daydream, she was sitting next to him on his car as he played another terrible piece, yet she found it soothing to listen to. Marco wondered if Star was just looking past his terrible playing and appreciating the true meaning of his songs or if she was just plain tone deaf.

"Huh, well good for you Star." Marco pat her back anyway as a sort of "congrats" gesture. She snapped out of her little fantasy and they both turned back to the screen.

The characters on-screen now had their lips pressed against each others, lasting only a quick moment. They pulled away, tears in their eyes as they held each other close.

This got Star wondering, how do these people in the movies get so good at acting? To pretend like you feel things that you don't. That must be the Earth magic in movies. Her curiosity now rising, she tugged on Marco's hoodie sleeve, and he looked at her.

"Marco... will I ever be as good of an actress as the characters in the movie?" She twirled her wand in her fingers. "They're super good at pretending to be sad and playing their characters and all this cool mumbo-jumbo. So I wonder if I could be as good as them if I tried to do what they do?"

"Oh yeah. I'm sure you'd make a great actress. Although the ones you see in the movies have gone through lots and lots of practice. And a cool fact is that everyone can act, Star."

"Everyone on Earth can act? So it's like a natural talent that every Earthling is born with and they don't need to drink some kind of magic potion or anything?"

"No, Star. We don't have to drink potions to be good at acting. Yes, we all can act. Including you. But we just need to practice a lot if we ever want to end up being cast in a movie"

"Then hows about we practice right now? Come on, come on, come on Marcooo! I wanna try being an actress!" She giddily stood up on the couch and started jumping, clearly eager to try out something new. Her jumping causing Marco to bounce up and down on his seat. "Ri-right no-ow? Re-eally Star? But I wa-anna fi-inish the-the mo-ovie!", and Star jumped off the couch and placed her hands on her waist and rolled her eyes. "Uhh, the 'pause' button exists for a reason, Marco. Now come on!" Taking his hand in hers and pulling him off the couch, Marco sighed as she dragged him to her room. Well, she had a point about the pause button. So he made sure he was able to pause the movie before she was able to get them to the stairs.

This was a common occurrence, and Marco by this point was already used to her and all her sudden bursts of enthusiasm to try something new. Sometimes it's a major inconvenience for him(depends, really.), and at other times it's a load of fun.  
But on most occasions, it's both an inconvenience for him but becomes a ton of fun by the end. Although whatever it may be, Marco always made sure that they don't get into TOO much trouble. He took it upon himself to bodyguard the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Mewni(even from herself at times) while at the same time going on unbelievable adventures with her. Star brings excitement to his life that he has never experienced before. And he thanks the forces of the universe everyday for fating him to meet with Star, and Star with him. Star was also glad she ended up in Marco's residence, maybe even more glad than Marco is. Even if they did get off to a really bad start.

Marco heard the door shut behind him, and realized that they finally arrived in Star's spacious room. With Marco casually walking towards Star's bed, she took a good look around her room and grinned widely, picturing in her head the perfect thing to do with all this space. Marco slipped his hands inside his hoodie pocket and landed on the bed, enjoying how comfy it was. And to imagine that Star slept on this every single night. So comfyyyy, he thought to himself as his eyes wandered around her room, noting that not much changed since he last came in here. Then looked over to Star, whose arm was outstretched and thumb out. Seemingly taking measurements similar to how painters do in the old days. Marco asked her what she was doing, and Star bounced towards him. Her hair following her motions.  
She stopped in front of him, one hand holding the wand and the other rested on her waist. "I'm setting the scene, Marco! Now stay riiiight here!"

She backed away from Marco, smile still on her face, she stopped when she knew she was in the center of her room. Star raised her wand and Marco watched it glow pink, she pointed it down to the floor and chanted loudly: "Movie Scene Imitation Flash!". A pink light flooded the room and Marco yelped, followed by a cute bark from the laser puppy. He shielded his eyes and waited for the light to die down.

The light finally died down and Marco cautiously peeled his eyes open, only to have them immediately widen at what he saw before them. He quickly spun around and took everything in, they were now in a room that resembled a spacious love hotel room. Similar to the one they saw in the movie they had previously just been watching. The only thing that was odd about all this was that there were... cameras? And lighting equipment. Even microphones! Marco put his hand to his chin and gave Star, who was biting the top of her wand and contemplating whether or not the room had enough lighting, an unsure look. "Star? I don't think all this movie equipment is necessary. We can do acting juuust fine without any of this." He assured her, but Star pursed her lips before replying, "But I wanted to REALLY get into the mood, y'know?"

"Yeah I get you, but it's alright Star. Seriously, you can just 'poof' us up a script for this one scene and we'll be all ready" Marco smiled at his little reference to a certain TV show he and Star saw from time to time. It was called-

"Wait. 'Poof' us up a script? Ahhh it's a reference to that one show we watch sometimes, isn't it? What was it called? Ummm... Barely Odd Parents?" Star got the reference, earning a chuckle from Marco before he corrected her. "Fairly Odd Parents, Star"

"Yeah yeah, but my magic doesn't work like theirs, Marco! My wand is powered by a tiny unicorn running on a treadmill, their wands are powered by this giant tower thingy that runs on belief! I can't poof us a script!" She shoved the wand unto Marco's face, and if you knew Star well enough, you should be well aware that THAT wand shouldn't be anywhere near your face, especially if it's her wielding it. So he immediately ducked and swerved towards her other side and sighed in relief. "Alright chill! We'll just grab my laptop and get a script, it won't take long."

After a quick travel to the movie's wiki website, Marco skimmed the transcript and wrote down on two pieces of paper the scene that they were looking for. He handed one over to Star and they both got ready on the "set". Chuckling to themselves as they finished reading and almost memorizing their lines. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Star tapped her wand on her shoulder and on Marco's chest. Their clothes glowed white for a bit before fading, replaced by completely different attires.

Star donned a red blouse with black lining the edges of her sleeves that stopped right above her elbow, collar, and bottom side. Paired with a black skirt that stopped right at her knees. But she was left in her socks due to the events of several scenes before this one. Whereas Marco donned a black jacket with a white undershirt, paired with dark brown jeans and also in his socks.

The princess then backed away, clearing her throat and asked Marco if he was ready. He nodded and gave a thumbs up, they both stood in front of each other and stood up straight.

Star began "Oh, my Luis. It's been a week since our last meet up. I can't stand being away from you for that long!". Marco snickered, not being used to Star pretending to be sad.

A quick little summary of their characters: Star plays the role of a girl named Claudia Margett, the daughter of a powerful man who owns and runs several companies. She is timid and reserved on the outside, but becomes very flirtatious, seductive, and has this relaxed air about her when she's alone with Luis; whereas Marco plays the role of a guy named Luis Cruz. The son of a retired professional MMA fighter. He is clumsy, reckless, and has no filter. A complete delinquent. But it's only Claudia who knows that he gets real sweet when they're alone and that his heart is always in the right place.

But it was difficult for Marco to imagine Star as "relaxed", let alone flirtatious! And Luis' character was the complete opposite of Marco. The safe kid being reckless? A far off vision indeed. Although it was shortly after thinking about it Marco realized that this was what acting was for. To pretend. Oh right, I'm an idiot. We're just acting so I might as well give it a go. He thought to himself.

"Claud, relax. I'm here now, aren't I?" Giving a reassuring look to "Claudia" and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. Star looked down on her paper for a bit, then replied. "Yeah, and I want to keep you here forever..." Flashing Marco a longing look, he stared back at her, as per orders of the script. But he felt like he caught something real from Star's expression. He couldn't really describe it though, so he dismissed it and told himself that Star just had a hidden talent for acting.

"We...both know that's not possible," MarcoLuis explained, and StarClaudia looked like she was in pain. She knew the truth, but she didn't want to admit it to herself. So hearing it come from someone else, especially from Luis, struck her hard... well that's what the script says anyway. "...for now, atleast." He tried to make her feel better, but she turned away and trudged towards the bed. He watched as she grabbed a pillow, sat herself down on the foot of the bed and clutched the pillow tightly. She sighed.

"I know, Luis. You don't have to remind me." StarClaudia sat still for a few moments before flinging the pillow across the room and groaning out of frustration. "Ugh, my father's a huge jerk! Seriously? I didn't agree to being shoved into an arranged marriage back when I was 6!"

Welp, that's how the story goes, Marco thought to himself. "Yehp, your father IS a huge jerk for doing that, but he's an even bigger jerk for doing it while he was drunk with one of his friends. You mind if I beat the absolute crap out of the guy who thinks he can marry you? If that pleases you." He was of course referring to the man who Claudia was stuck in an arranged marriage with, the son of the previously mentioned drunk friend of her father. She smiled a bit at that last bit, adoring his manliness, but shook her head. "He's been trained in several different arts of combat. He IS, after all, the heir to a multitude of companies. You think he'd be some bratty rich kid who lays down in money all day?" Luis rolled his eyes and went over to sit next to Claudia. He smirked and examined his rough hands. "Tss, trust me Claud. Once I'm done with him and his father, the only thing they'll be owning are bruises and broken bones." MarcoLuis clenched his fist.

StarClaudia at this point was now smiling widely, she rested her head on MarcoLuis' shoulder and sighed once more. "Thanks for the lovely threat directed towards my father's friend and my disgusting fiancee. But there's no need for that, because," She took his clenched fist, unfurled it, then brought it to her lips to kiss it lovingly. Hugging it to her chest afterwards.

Marco was admittedly shocked, in a good way. His eyes as wide as saucers. Damn, was Star good at acting or what? The moment Star kissed his hand, he felt his stomach do somersaults. He bit his lip and told himself that it was just her following the script, but something about that gesture felt so real from Star. Something he just can't quite grasp himself. and Star continued "me being here next to you like this is more than enough to please me, Luis." And with that, Marco just turned red. Even more red than the hoodies that he wears. Why did he feel like this? He wasn't falling for his best friend now, was he? He tells himself to stop having thoughts like this and just brushes it off as Star being THAT good of an actress. After all, they were just acting, weren't they?

"A-alright fine" Marco stumbled with his line, but quickly cleared his throat and continued "Guess the bratty rich kid lives to see another day." He gently pulled the hand that StarClaudia was hugging and earned a frown along with a small whimper, until he draped his arm over her instead. Her frown quickly dissipated and she smiled.

Meanwhile, Star felt her stomach tingling with the feel of Marco's arm draped over her shoulders, cherishing this moment and deciding to snuggle closer to Marco. Only to remember that-

"Star, your lines?" Marco whispered with a small smile, and Star laughed a bit before clearing her throat.

"I-I'm actually also looking forward to his demise in your hands, but don't worry. I'll try my hardest to get around this arranged marriage stuff. So that it won't be just you working your butt off for our relationship to work out" It was now her turn to stumble but she managed to regain her character shortly afterwards.

"I'm sure you will. Let's do our best, Claud" MarcoLuis pulled her closer, and she yelped inaudibly.

They stayed like that for a while, before Star continued with her lines. "Thinking about this whole arranged marriage stuff is just dumb. Like super dumb. I want to think about running away with you instead." StarClaudia looked up to MarcoLuis, and he put on a hopeful face. "That's my plan, Claud. Just give me more time, I'm still planning it out. When was your wedding date with the ding-a-ling again?" And Star chuckled at the derogatory nickname.

"In six months. Three days after my 18th birthday. Y'know, to be of legal age to be wed and all"

"Then how we about we run away a day after your birthday? Consider it my birthday gift to you" He winked at StarClaudia, and she couldn't resist giving out an "Awwwweee" at that one line of his, even though she was aware that he was just following the script and that her real birth date was still quite far away.

"If we do manage to succeed with that, what'll we do afterwards?"

"Well...we'll have to look for a place to crash in. I know a friend that can help us with that at where we're going"

"Oh? You already have a location in mind?"

"Yeah but it's a surprise, Claud! I can't tell you just yet"

"Alright fine, you're lucky I happen to love surprises, otherwise I'd be prying til you start crying"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, dearie. Now what's next after that?"

"Well, we'll have to change our names and our appearances, maybe. But I wouldn't want you to change how you look. Since you look perfect just the way you are~" Star snorted at his little Bruno Mars reference.

"Oh hon, you flatter me. But I'd love to give YOU a makeover." She winked, and MarcoLuis rolled his eyes with a small smile.

"Afterwards, we'll look for a steady source of income"

"Can I help you with that? I really want to help in supporting both of us, I wouldn't want you to have to do all the work"

"That's sweet, Claud. Thank you, really. But you can only work in the same establishment that I do, alright? So I can keep an eye on you and make sure none of your father's goons try to nab you"

"Sure, hon. I'll be keeping an eye on you as well to make sure no other girl nabs YOU, is that fine?" Star traced circles on Marco's chest, and Marco felt his face get warm. He decided to skim the script to take his attention off of that, but it proved to be difficult. Marco pressed forward anyways.

"Of course, Claud. Thanks" He grinned, and Star skimmed her script.

"What happens after that?"

"Well...once we're done with all those, we can do anything we want.

"Anything we want? Really?" StarClaudia asked, and Marco was now a tad bit confused. This part wasn't in the script. She was supposed to say something like "Quite a life that will be, I'm looking forward to it". But before he could correct her, she started fiddling with the collar of his undershirt. This kind of contact was a bit too foreign. But Star was surely enjoying this. And...so was he? He couldn't quite understand. But then he remembered that she still must've been acting. Marco just can't imagine Star doing this under normal circumstances, and he DID explain that actors sometimes go off-script, and that those little moments manage to make their way into the final cut. That must've been what she was doing, so he kept acting.

"Yehp. Anything we want, Star" Marco took two seconds to realize that-

"Star? Who's Star? My name is Claudia. Are you seeing another girl, Luis?" StarClaudia stood up, crossing her arms and eyeing her "lover" warily.

Wow, Marco stared at Star in shock and amazement. He figured that Star would just brush off his little mistake and continue with her lines, but she was so into her character. This pushed him to up his game. He thought quickly, how would Luis respond to something like this?

"I know Claud. I called you Star because... you're the one and only Star that... brightens up my life when I'm feeling lost in the dark!" Standing up and hoping he nailed that impromptu pick up line, he smiled sincerely and rested his hands on her shoulder. Star felt a thump in her chest, hoping that her blush wasn't overly visible, she tried her best to flash a smirk.

"T-talk is cheap, Cruz. I don't believe in mere words" Star removed his hands from her shoulders, shooting him a playful look and keeping the smirk. "Put some work into proving what you want to say like a real man would. Back your words up with...actions" She turned away from him. Flipping her hair in the process.

"Right right. Actions speak louder than words. Well," Marco didn't appreciate the blow his masculinity took, but he didn't feel insulted. In fact, he felt quite challenged and more eager to step up his acting game. Marco slid his arms around her waist and before he even knew it himself, he was hugging Star from behind. He didn't know where it came from, but something was nagging at him from the back of his head. It started with a "J", but he discovered that being this close to Star felt great. Acting or not, this was a rare chance and he has never done this before. Star was blushing madly, and she was thankful to no one in particular that she was looking away and that Marco couldn't see her hoodie-red face right now.

"I can buy you a bouquet of roses, treat you to as much ice cream as you want, buy you burritos and sprinkle a ton of sugar on them, maybe even bring you to the carnival while we wear funny disguises" Yes. The boy had 650 dollars in his pocket, so it was quite possible for them to do all of that. Marco affectionately rested his chin on the crook of her neck, his hot breath enough to give her goosebumps. "Just tell me what you want, and I'll give it to ya." MarcoLuis adds, whispering now.

Star was excited about all of the offers he's made. Especially the roses. But... "I don't need any of those, Luis. Material possessions are temporary" she turned around, making sure that MarcoLuis' arms are still wrapped around her as she looks up to him. "I want something that'll last. Something I can remember. You know me well enough to know that I'm a sucker for memories, don't ya?" MarcoLuis nodded, but was a bit lost now. He pondered a bit on how Luis would respond to this. After a short while, he replied.

"Like I said, St- Claud. Just tell me what you want, and it's yours" Marco almost made the same mistake he made earlier, but he tried to put on a sexy smirk. But Star snorted at that before recomposing her character. She bit her lip, deep in thought.

"Oh. I don't know Luis. You don't sound like you're willing to give me that much..." She solemnly turned away, and Marco was baffled. This was proving to be harder than he thought it would be seeing as Star was super into character, but he was determined to play along.

"Just try me, Claud. I'd be willing to die for you if push comes to shove" Marco leaned in, whispering, his voice filled with sincerity and conviction. And Star glanced back in his direction.

"Are you sure, Cruz? Sounds like quite a heavy promise, even for someone like you..." She leaned closer, teasing him, her voice turning into a whisper as well.

"I'm ready to do it twice, even. Now tell me what it is that you want me to do for you to believe me" His voice growing deeper, more like a sexy groan. Marco starting to really feel himself get the hang of this whole acting game and Star was just loving it. Their foreheads now resting against one another.

"Fine. If you're willing to die twice for me, I suppose...a kiss won't be too much trouble for you?" Star smiled smugly, and Marco blushed furiously. Then snapped out of his whole acting trance. He realized that he was so into his character that he forgot about Jackie! He liked Jackie, didn't he? Marco already made this full heartfelt speech about his feelings for her back when Pony Head played Truth or Punishment in Star's room a while back. Yet his heart was thumping loudly at the thought of kissing his best friend. Why did it excite him so much? Best friends don't kiss!

Star knew of course that he'd tell her to call this off, that this has been good but that they should call it a night. The Safe Kid wouldn't dare do something like make out with his best friend, even if it WAS just acting. She knew that they had limits. After all, they were just best friends...

Best friends don't kiss.

The pair stood in silence, both still as close as ever, foreheads against one another, neither had moved at all yet. Until MarcoLuis spoke.

"A kiss? Seriously?" Star looked down. She could just laugh it off a little later and say she was just into her character, that she just got carried away. That she definitely didn't want to kiss Marco or anything. She thought to herself... but then Marco spoke again. "We've done MORE than that before, Claud. Remember?"

Star looked up to Marco, her eyes lighting up. Was he just back into acting, or did he REALLY want this to happen between them? She thought to herself.

This could quite possibly complicate the friendship they had between them, the Safe Kid valued his friendships a ton and he wouldn't want to do anything to upset Star by messing up or something. But then again...

He never wanted to be the Safe Kid in the first place.

"Ah yes. Indeed we... have done more than just kissing..." StarClaudia resumed playing her character, not sure what to feel about the way things are turning out. But one thought that rose above others in her mind was that she didn't think the Safe Kid had it in him.

Marco was quite conflicted with how things were turning out, but all his worries were beginning to wash away. After all, they were young! And it wasn't everyday that you get to kiss a princess that wields a wand and comes from an unknown magical dimension that he never even knew existed.

"Yes, so what do you want aside from that?" Marco was slowly leaning in, his eyebrows raised, curious to know what kind of proposition she had in mind.

"I don't know... Surprise me, Diaz." Her voice was getting softer, more yearning, locking her eyes with him.

"Diaz? My last name's Cruz. It's so unlike you to forget..." His voice was back to the deep, soft little growl like voice he had earlier. Sounding like he just woke up. Star felt her knees getting weak just listening to his sexy drawl, leaning closer to him. And at this point, their chests were pressed up against each other, legs close together. Star's arms were now around his shoulders, pulling him closer ever so slowly.

"Oh?" She didn't even care that she got it wrong, it was this boy in front of her that occupied her thoughts. Disregarding any and all thoughts completely, with one sudden tug of Star's waist towards him, Marco pressed his lips unto hers. Feeling her unbelievably soft lips against his was just absolute euphoria. His mind absolutely wiped of any rational thought as Star tightened her hold around Marco, wanting to feel more of him and to just drown in him entirely. Her one hand was caressing the back of his head and almost tugging on his hair, it excited him. They were like travelers in a desert who happened to come upon an oasis and found water for the first time in a while. Thirsty and needy, they drank as much of each other as they could. They were each others oasis. Their lips finally finding a steady rhythm after their rough intro. The pair was now in cloud nine as they basked in the feel of one another. The duo were unknowingly stepping towards the bed, until they slowly laid themselves down. Star laying down as Marco stayed above her, their lips still happily against one another and dancing to the beat of their hearts. Marco was now resting his weight on his elbows and Star's hands found their way to his back. Gripping the back of his jacket and tugging him closer even further, if that was even possible.

They continued for a while before parting. Heads still empty of any thought as they just stayed there. Staring into one another's eyes. But without even thinking, and as if his body was on auto-pilot, Marco lowered his face down to her cheek, kissing it, then started trailing kisses down to her jaw, then right below her jaw, then towards her neck. He doesn't know where he picked this up. But it just felt so right, he felt his heart beating wildly. His entire body felt warm. He was now kissing her collarbone, and lightly sucked on the amazingly soft flesh. As if he wanted to just... eat her up. His sucking started to get more and more needy, his lips traveling up to the softer part of her neck, and Star was just enjoying it, moaning and giving out shaky breaths as she bit her lip. Both of them wondering how a simple game of acting turned into this, yet they were too occupied with the contact they both were receiving from one another to even consider that thought. Star wasn't aware what kind of consequence Marco's current action had, and the boy thought confidently to himself that she probably didn't even know what a hickey was. He'll have to explain that Earth stuff later-

Wait, hickeys?! Marco realized what he was doing and quickly pulled away. His rationality coming back and, unfortunately, his "Safe Kid"-ness. His breaths were heavy as he saw that he unmistakably left a hickey on Star's neck. "Oh no", Marco got off of Star, and pulled her up. Snapping out of her euphoria-filled state, she looked at Marco and asked "What's...wrong?" Shortly afterwards, it was as if she snapped out of a trance, and she blushed like crazy. Realizing what they had just done.

Marco Diaz and Star Butterfly just had a make-out session.

And Marco unintentionally left a hickey on Star. But she didn't know that yet.

They both sat on the bed in silence, both having blushes on their faces. And with Marco rubbing the back of his neck, he was the first to break the silence. "Star... I... kinda got carried away, and... I left a uh... a thingy on your neck." Looking away and refusing to look Star in the eyes, he was far too embarrassed to do so. He felt absolutely awkward. Star got up and walked over to the vanity, checking her neck in the mirror. Marco heard a gasp before he buried his hands in his face. What if their schoolmates saw it? What would they think of Star? They'd definitely make rumors. "Marco Diaz sexually assaulting the current foreign exchange student that he and his family were taking care of." Marco was done for, but he could just run away and change his name to Dorko Seeyaz and get a bowl cut. Live a new life! Trying to remember where he hid his stash of savings, he could just-

Star tackled him and they rolled until they fell off the other side of the bed, Star was laughing and giving off her trademark bubbly aura, and was laying down atop of Marco. He was now very baffled. What was the princess doing, he wondered.

"So you left a hickey on me, not a big deal!" She spoke after she finished laughing, and Marco's expression turned to one of shock "Y-y-y-you-you know what a hickey is? And how is it not a big deal Star? What if our schoolmates see it?" He pushed Star off him and she gave an "oof!". He sat with his legs crossed, and he scratched the back of his head. Star went to sit Japanese style, kneeling and all. "Well duh, of course I know what a hickey is. I've been to places Marco. I've seen other Mewmans get it too!" She pulled her dimensional scissors from under the bed and waved it around, and Marco wondered just what kinds of things she saw from all the adventures she's had with her inter-dimensional peers. His expression was calculating, his hand was on his chin. Until Star tackled him again.

Marco braced for the collision with the floor, only to realize that Star was hugging him. He hugged back of course. "Stop being such a worrywart, Diaz. Relax" She pulled away and put her hair over her neck, effectively covering up the hickey. "Ta-daaaa!" She happily gave two thumbs up and Marco smiled a bit, although his expression still showed a bit of worry. Now his thoughts were about what would happen to their friendship from now on. Will he and Star still stay friends after this? What if Star starts to distance herself from him?

Star stood up, grabbed her wand from next to the laser puppy and walked back to Marco to help him up. Now they were both standing, Star with a grin on her face, as if nothing had happened between them. Marco smiled sheepishly in return, guess this wasn't going to change much of anything. He wasn't sure. But he hoped that their friendship stays strong. Guiltily remembering Jackie though, his smile faded and was replaced by a thin line. His lips were pursed. And Star took notice of it.

"Marco, chiiiiill. How's about we make a pinky promise?"

"A...pinky promise?"

"Yeah! A pinky promise. That we will tell absolutely nobody about this little acting bit that we did. Or anything that followed afterwards. Alrighty?" Star held her pinky out, smiling at Marco.

He sighed and loosened up, he intertwined his pinky with hers and smiled as well. "Alrighty. Pinky promise."

"Oh, and by the way. In the old days, pinky promises meant that whoever breaks the promise will have to cut their pinkies off. Soooo... yeah, let's not break any promises, alright?" Marco added with a sly smirk, impressed at himself for remembering such a cool piece of history he got off the internet, and Star laughed as she nodded excitedly.

"Huuuuugs!" Star went in to hug Marco, and he happily hugged back. They parted and looked around. "Welp, time to clean mah room. We gotta get rid of all these props and lights and... microphones... and... CAMERAS?!" Star noticed that she didn't use her magic to put away the cameras earlier, and that everything they had done in the room were recorded. The thought of someone discovering what they had done was enough to make both of them panic. In an instant, she raised her wand and pointed at the movie equipment. "Mystic Room Suck Transform!", A black hole came into existence right above the equipment, and it got sucked in, along with the props, and the love hotel stuff. It all disappeared, and Star's room was back to normal. Marco and Star both sighed. They looked at each other and decided that it would be best to get back downstairs and to continue their Friendship Thursday movie.

* * *

After throwing away the empty cans of sodas and washing the empty bowl they used, they hurriedly plopped back down on the couch and pressed play on the remote.

A while later, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz announced their arrival, and walked into the living room. Only to see Star leaning on Marco's chest while Marco was out cold and his head rested on Star's head respectively. The two teenagers were asleep and cuddled up against one another. The adults thinking to themselves how adorable the sight before them was, and completely unaware of the events that just transpired in the foreign exchange student's room. Mr. Diaz took this as an opportunity to paint the two teenagers. Mrs. Diaz giggled to herself, watching her husband masterfully painting every detail of the two slumbering teens. They agreed to show this to them tomorrow, and knowing that Marco will be furious. They laughed to themselves and decided to retire to bed.

An hour after that, Marco woke up, he saw that the TV had been turned off, the blanket was on both him and Star, and saw that they were closely cuddled together. He almost immediately freaked out and was about to yelp in embarrassment, but decided not to disturb the sleeping princess. So he sighed, pulling her closer and got comfortable himself. Today's events really was something. He still remembers it all in vivid detail and he let it all play out in his head as he begins to nod off. Beside him, Star smiled, being half awake. They were both unsure of what'll happen after today. But they decided not to let that bother them a single bit. They were still young! Things like this were normal, weren't it?

So today was a day they both will never forget. Because this was the first time they didn't do a Friendship Thursday. No. They did...

"More-Than-Friendship Thursday?" they both said in unison, oddly enough, both of them were too tired to be amazed or weirded out, nor to say "jinx, you owe me a soda!". So they closed their eyes and enjoyed each others comfiness. Their happiness in this moment was something that was so amazing that nothing, not even Ludo or his minions, could ruin it.

Marco felt the urge to say something, but he figured it was way too early for something like that. He still had to figure things out with Jackie, how would she react to this if he told her? How could he keep it a secret? How can the Safe Kid deal with a situation like-

Marco felt Star kiss his cheek, and all his thoughts and worries washed away instantly as she slid back down and rested her head against his chest once more. Why was he overthinking this again? It's not like there was something between him and Star anyway. They were just best friends who were goofing off and got carried away...

"Thanks Star."

"No probs, Marco. Now let's go to sleep please."

And they were out once more.

* * *

 **WELP. FIRST EVER SERIOUS FANFICTION OF ROMICCHI'S LIFE.  
** **I had a ton of fun writing this, imagining how Star would react to this, how Marco would react to that. I did my best to make sure that I captured their personalities. (I hope I succeeded haha)  
Expect the next chapter in about...a week? This first chapter took me two weeks to finish, due to the fact that my writing process is... ehhh, I'll explain.**

 **I write the chapters in a notebook, my "rough draft." I make sure to use pencil of course, and so I make adjustments here and there within the notebook. And the reason why I don't just encode it immediately is because my PC stays at home. I can bring my notebook everywhere with me. So I can immediately just jot down any ideas or scenes that come into mind. Afterwards, once I finish the rough draft in the notebook, I encode it in the PC, and continue to make adjustments while I encode, then when I finish, I re-read twice, maybe thrice, then voila! Aaaaaaand I'm lazy. But hey! Thanks for the reviews, and the favorites. I'll make sure to deliver the second chapter as soon as possible! Stay tuned!**

 **(Oh and follow me on Tumblr. I reblog and post a bunch of cool SVTFOE stuff there. I wish to share my love for the show with all of ya'll! Thaaanks!)  
tumblr - ragnaromeDOTtumblrDOTcom :)  
**


	2. Whoopsie-Doopsie

Walking to school doesn't sound like an option for most students. Why walk when you can just ride a bike? Or get on a skateboard and skate? Or get your parents to drive you to school? Maybe the bus? How about the dimensional scissors? There are so many differents ways to get to school! But somehow, walking appealed to Marco Diaz today. It's a known fact that the boy has mild motion sickness which is why he seldom takes the school bus. But that isn't why he decided to walk. It was because he wanted to think of what to say to Jackie. Of course you can't just go up to your crush and not have a topic in mind. You gotta be prepared! Well, if you ask Marco anyway.

The princess, Star Butterfly, wielder of a powerful wand with an infinite arsenal of spells, decided to accompany Marco. Listening to him go on about possible conversation starters, until she decided to share her fantasies about showing Oskar some cool magic spell that'll amaze him so much that he instantly falls for her and her awesomeness. Adding how she wants to learn how to play the magic button guitar as well to impres him. The two exchanged ideas and were engaged in conversation. Laughing over corny and cheesy pick-up lines that they managed to come up with. Until suddenly, Marco's eyes fell on Star's dress collar...

Well, it wasn't her collar that he was looking at... it was the mark he left on her unintentionally. The hickey on the lower right side of her neck, peeking out of her collar every time she turns her head just a bit. The boy's face gradually reddened, almost to the point that it was as red as his hoodie when the memories from yesterday came back to take center stage in his thoughts. He looked straight ahead and bit his lip, trying his hardest to ignore the warmth in his chest but still listening to Star talk about her long-time crush.

"-I mean, I'm sure Oskar would like lava lamp eels more than giant neon dragonflies. So I'll just go with that. What do YOU think, Marco?" Star waited for his response with a smile on her face, but when silence was the one to respond to her question, she glanced over to Marco. His face as red as a tomato. Then her smile turned into a grin. "Ahhh... you thought of a REAL juicy pick-up line, didn't ya? Lemme hear it, Diaz!" She slapped his back, but once again forgetting her own strength, he was propelled forward, his foot getting briefly caught in a crack on the sidewalk and fell to the floor. "Oops." Star immediately went to pick him up, and dusted him off.

"Well, I wasn't thinking of a pick-up line. But now I have one," Marco dusted himself off some more to make sure his clothes were clean, then resumed walking. "Ehem, 'Jackie, are you the ground? Because a crack on the pavement had me falling for you...' Pfft-" The two burst out laughing, both of them aware of how ridiculous their pick-up lines are, which is what made it fun. Looks like walking really was the best idea for the two of them.

Just as they had finished laughing, the bus drove past them. Star happily waved to its passengers while flashing a 2000 watt smile. Marco watched the bus turn right, and round the corner, disappearing out of sight. He looked at Star again and saw the hickey once more. Wondering why he couldn't restrain himself even just a little bit back then so that this wouldn't have happened. He also wondered how his parents never even took notice of the hickey. Or maybe they did, and they just didn't say anything. Panic starts to creep up on Marco, this could cause trouble for them if his parents found out. Or worse, if the king or queen found out! So he stopped in front of Star and adjusted her collar and hair to hide the mark. She was wearing a green dress today, poofed up shoulders, and the usual spider necklace. Star was a bit surprised at Marco's actions, then realized that he was trying to hide the hickey.

"Marco, why do you have to hide the hickey? Isn't it your mark on me? Something you should be proud of?" Star shrugged, and Marco tried to cover the mark using her hair, messing it up in the process.

"Because, Star, people here don't see these things as a trophy. They think of it as 'these darn kids getting really wild', and I don't want my parents or your parents to hear about this. They're gonna think badly of us." He tried again with the hair, now she looked like she had a bath towel made of hair covering her shoulders.

"Hickeys are a bad thing on Earth?" she gasps. "Are you bad, Marco?!" she covered her mouth in shock, and Marco shook his head.

"No Star, it's not necessarily bad. It's just that only lovers leave hickeys on each other. And we aren't lovers, Star. So people are gonna think that I forced myself on you or something like that. Do you get it?" He tried once more with the hair, now she looked like the ghost from "The Grudge" except with blonde hair. He would've laughed a bit at this if only he wasn't so panick-y right now. She nodded at his question.

Star used her wand to brush her hair all the way back behind her head. "Relax, Marco~ I got this. Although I already told myself before that I gotta stop using magic on my face, I'll make an exception if it means getting you to stop worrying." Marco smiled, he felt grateful that she was considering his feelings. Star looked up, twirled her wand for a bit, then tapped her head. Her hair immediately became tied up in what was called a front row braid. How did Marco know this? He may or may not have been reading Star's magazines when he was waiting for her to finish showering on numerous occasions.

Star's hair had two braids starting from the front of her head that went towards the back, and her hair now flowed down towards her chest. It sure solved the problem, and she looked great. Why did she suddenly look so... sparkly today? Marco thought to himself. But that was the norm, wasn't it? Star has always been sparkly. And glitter-y, and rainbow-y.

"I saw it from a magazine that I bought a while back, looks pretty cool right? I've been wanting to try this out." She did a peace sign pose and smiled adorably. Marco then realized that his mouth was agape, so he closed it. Had he been staring at his best friend? What was happening to him today? Nevertheless, he replied "You're pretty, and you're cool. And yeah, the braid is pretty cool." Marco did a finger gun pose, and resumed their journey to school. Star placed her wand in her bag. "Awwwweee, thanks Marco! I think you're pretty too." She imitated his finger gun pose, and Marco chuckled as he rolled his eyes. "That's not how adjectives work, but whatever." The two resumed their conversation and discovery of even more ridiculous pick-up lines until they arrived at Echo Creek Academy. And thus, their day begins.

* * *

Lunch. Some students call it their favorite subject, admittedly just for the laughs. And here we have Marco and Star headed over to their lunch table while the boy ranted about how Miss Skullnick was talking about her last week's date way too much and never really got to teaching the lesson at all. "Seriously, I think I learned more about her favorite traits in men than how to solve the equation she absentmindedly gave us." They set their trays down and sat, and Star crossed her legs. "Well, at least now you've got a general idea of what most women on Earth look for in guys. Maybe Jackie also shares the same favorite traits as Miss Skullnick?"

"Ehh... no. I don't think so, Star. It actually depends from person to person on what they look for in a partner." Marco was appalled by the idea of his crush and his huge troll of a teacher(literally, thanks to Star's wand) sharing the same list of favorite traits. That was way too far off. They were two very different people.

"Well, how about you, Marco? What do YOU look for in a partner?"

"Hmmm... I've never really thought about it now that you mentioned it. But I'm thinking that-" Janna then shows up, interrupting his explanation.

"Hey Marco, hey Star." Janna plopped down next to Star, dropping her bag on the floor near her seat and setting her tray down on the table. "Heeey Janna Banana!" The blonde pulled the Filipino girl in for a quick hug, then parted. Marco waved, then went to eat his lunch. Leaving the girls to converse while he ate his lunch. Still mulling over how Miss Skullnick was forgetting that she was a teacher and not some character from a crummy soap opera.

Janna took notice of Star's new hairdo, putting her hand on her chin as she admired the new style the princess tried on today. "Nice braids, Star. Did Marco do it for ya? I didn't know he was actually good with his fingers." Star missed the innuendo, and smiles at her friend. While Marco heard that last bit and nearly spit out his food. "Why thank you, Janna! Actually, I used magic to get me this hairdo. Do you think I should style it up like this everyday? Or just on most days?" The beauty queen Star flips her hair fancily, as if she was endorsing a shampoo brand. But Marco nearly choked on his food this time as Star unknowingly showcased the hickey to Janna. who immediately caught sight of it. It was far too late for him to tell Star not to do that as Janna's sly smile was enough to say how doomed he was. "Ooohh Star, I wonder what this is?" The hat-wearing girl leaned in, holding Star's hair out of the way to keep it from covering the little bruise mark again, and Star realized her mistake. She glanced over to Marco, panic was evident in the eyes of the two teens.

But even more panic crept unto the back of Marco's head as Janna noticed Star looking at the half-latino boy, then put two-and-two together. "Well well, guess good'ol Marco here ain't good with his fingers, but with his lips instead~" She teased, and Star pulled back, fixing her hair.

"What are you talking about, Janna?" Star asked nonchalantly, and acting confused. Hoping that the acting game she and Marco played yesterday actually helps.

"Huh, you trying to tell me that right there on yer neck ain't a love mark? Cuz you know the saying: 'lips don't lie', especially not his." Janna pointed to Marco, in which he rolled his eyes to. Acting annoyed.

"It's actually 'hips don't lie' Janna, and no. Me and Star were fighting this giant racoon-octopus hybrid the other day. Y'know, a giant racoon with octopus arms? The arms had this bothersome suction thingies on them, duh," he glanced at Star for a bit then immediately continued. "It had Star by the neck, and it had me by the chest. Good thing Star conjured up this spell to knock it out, but of course, it left some marks on us. I've got about a dozen of'em on my chest and on my back. Star's lucky she only has a couple to deal with." Marco said with a fake exasperated expression, and continued to eat. But on the inside he was freaking out a ton. Is Janna going to fall for it? Did the story even sound believable? Of course it's gonna be believable, there are a million dimensions out there. Anything is possible! Does Janna know this? Marco thought to himself heavily.

Janna eyed Marco and Star warily, until she asked: "You sure you aren't making this up?" Marco swallowed his food.

"You think I'd make something like this up? There are almost an infinite number of dimensions out there, Janna. Anything's possible. I thought you of all people knew that." Then Janna looked at Star, who was now dreamily staring at Oskar leaning by the wall near the trashcan, playing his keytar... might I add horribly.

Marco does have a point. Janna thought to herself as she shrugged and proceeded to eat her lunch. Marco internally sighed, they had dodged a bullet. Close call. He glanced over to Star. She was ogling at the schools "aspiring" musician. Now only taking notice of his terrible music but doing his best to tune it out. He went back to his food. And thought of Jackie.

Soon afterwards, the three had finished their lunches and headed over to class.

* * *

Stretching his arms, Marco, along with Star, had just finished their second to the last period of class. "Yeeeesss! Just one more class and we're outta here! TGFI!" Star exclaimed, waving her wand in the air and producing mini fireworks. A light show in the middle of the hallway was sure to catch the attention of several other students as they gawked with amazed expressions. The foreign rebel princess sure was a crowd pleaser.

"Star, it's T-G-I-F. Stands for 'Thank Gosh It's Friday'."

"Oh, right right right. TGIF! Haha sorry about that. There are so many Earth celebrations to keep track of! Say, wanna get a burger after school?" Star's eyes were all lit up and everything, guess she really wants that burger. Marco thinks to himself, as he also conformed to the idea of getting a burger himself.

"Sure! I want a burger with-"

"OHMYGOSHMARCO LOOK!" Star cupped his face in her hands and turned his face to look at what caught her interest. It was Jackie Lynn Thomas, leaning against the lockers and talking to, of course, none other than Janna. Marco's eyes went wide. What should he say? Was his hoodie crooked? Was his hair misaligned? What are they talking about?

"Go on, Marco! Talk to her! Impress her with yow pick-up liiines!" Star grinned and gripped Marco's shoulders excitedly. He laughs nervously as he tries to recall the conversation starters he was thinking about just this morning. Until Star started shaking him.

"Marcoooooo! Get a move on! Before our last class starts! You can do it!" She cheered, letting go of his shoulders. And so the boy proceeds to march forward, running through every possible pick-up line that could land him into a full-blown conversation with her. Breathing in deeply, then out. In again, then out, then downwards, then sidewards, and sidewards... and wait... why are the tiles suddenly coming towards him?

He slipped and fell.

Everyone in the vicinity had witnessed it. Marco slipped, but tried to step on his other foot but it looked like the boy didn't step on it right and quite possibly sprained his ankle(he did), and had the side of his head come in contact with the floor. Followed by a grunt and an incoherent string of curses in Spanish he learned from listening to his father talk to people on the phone while he was stressed.

"Whoopsie-doopsie" Star murmured to herself, quickly rushing over to help him up. But surprisingly, Jackie got there first and slung his arm over her shoulder. "Hey dude. I'mma take you to the nurse's office. That cool with you?" Marco furiously nodded, his face completely filled with astonishment, almost forgetting the pain and discomfort as he felt a slight blush creep up to his face. He couldn't believe his luck! Jackie Lynn Thomas is actually bringing him to the nurse's office! It was a miracle! But wait a minute... Jackie Lynn Thomas has to be the one to bring him to the nurse's office? He internally groaned, this was so embarrassing. And he just HAD to slip and fall like an idiot in front of his crush. Still, he enjoyed the closeness with Jackie and got a whiff of her perfume. It reminded him of the beaches from California for some reason, and he loved it. And she was so soft!

Star was following closely behind, watching as her best friend limped slightly. She felt a bit guilty for not realizing that they were at the "Fall Hall" as Janna and the majority of the students had dubbed it. Curse that janitor for irresponsibly forgetting to place a wet floor sign! She made sure to make a mental note to flood the hallways with syrup once they head out for the janitor to clean it all up. That'll teach him! And plus, it'll be funny watching him struggle to get all the syrup. Star thinks to herself, listing a bunch of other pranks she could do on the janitor in her head. And before she knew it, there was the nurse pushing the curtains aside and Jackie setting Marco down on a bed. They were already at the nurse's office! There were 6 beds in this office each surrounded by curtains, there was a table by the corner next to a cabinet full of medicines, and it was quite spacious. Star wasn't aware of this room's existence until today. Looks like she had some exploring to do to see if there were any other rooms she hadn't been to yet.

The nurse told them that Marco just had a sprained ankle and a bruise on his temple. Brought him some ice, told him to lie down, wrapped his foot in bandages to keep it from moving so much, and the nurse headed out to get herself a "treat". Not knowing what the nurse had meant(although Jackie had a slight idea as to what she meant), they watched as she left. And thus the three teenagers were now left alone together. A silence ensued, but Marco spared them the quietness.

"Uh, hey Jackie? Sorry for making you bring me all the way to the nurse's office. I could've just limped all the way here and-"

"And make that sprain worse? Duuude. Sprained ankles are the irritating. Trust me, I've had my fair share of those when I was first starting out on skateboarding. They suck! So relax, you don't have to apologize."

"Oh, alright. Thanks Jackie." Marco smiled sincerely, feeling super lucky that his crush was empathizing with him.

"No probs, dude. Now I gotta head out! Still got last period. Just tell Star here to get the nurse's signature for your excuse letter or somethin'. See ya Marco, see ya Star!" Star watches Jackie exit the room. Once the door closes, she skips over to Marco. Humming a song she heard off of the TV.

"Hihi, sooooo how was it?" Star seats herself on the edge of the bed, a huge grin displayed on her face.

"If you're talking about the slipping and the bruising myself part. It sucked a lot, thanks for asking."

"Uhh no duh. I saw that. I was there for that. I'm talking about the other thing, y'know, with Jackie!"

"Oh... OHHHH! IT WAS AMAZIIIING! I ACTUALLY GOT TO HANG MY ARM OVER HER! AND SHE SMELLED SO NIIIICE! AND SHE FELT SUPER SOFT" Marco eagerly explained, his face giddy and love-struck. Never did he think in a million years that he'd be able to experience physical contact with Jackie so soon. He felt his stomach tingle, and his face was warm. It was bliss.

"Congratulations, Marco! You're making even more progress!" Star exclaimed, feeling enthusiastic about her best friend's step forward. She habitually grabbed his leg and shook it excitedly.

Realizing that she wasn't supposed to do that. It earned her a brief howl from Marco.

"Ow ow ow ow owowowowow- Star! Stop!" He tried, out of reflex, to pull his bruised foot away, but that made it hurt more. "OUCH! Crabapples!" He grit his teeth. Knowing that moving isn't gonna help, he slowly straightened his legs out properly and laid down, trying to stay motionless. The aching on and in his head started to gradually become more noticeable.

"Oh gosh! I am so so so so sorry, Marco! Here, let me cast a spell for ya! You'll feel better in no ti-"

"Nooo no no no nope! No thanks, Star! I think I'll let me take care of this one. Thank you very much." Not wanting to bring back monster arm, or bring to life a monster leg for this case. He sighed. Closing his eyes and willing the pain on both his head and his leg to go away soon. This was gonna be a nuisance to him if trouble came to him and Star.

"And Star, aren't you supposed to be attending last period?" He asked while keeping his eyes closed. Marco heard his best friend snicker.

"Pssh. Like I would even want to attend another class. I'm bored. And youuu gave me the perfect excuse to not go. I can just tell'em that you needed someone to accompany you here in the nurse's office!"

"Huh... guess that'll work. Sure. You can just kill time here or something."

"Yippeee! So what do you wanna do Marco? Ya wanna play chess?"

"Since when did YOU want to play chess?"

"Pssh, since for-ever! Duhh."

"Wait... you know how to play chess?"

"Nope! I don't really know much about what it is though. But I heard that it's this board game."

Marco laughed, he didn't know much about chess either, but he was pretty sure that he could just beat her over and over unless he taught her how to play, and Star started laughing as well. Finding joy in her best friend's happiness. Things were going great for Marco. Jackie Lynn helped him to the nurse's office, he was here goofing off with his best friend in the said office, and what's more, him and Star were planning to get burgers later! This was a great day for Marco. Is it gonna get any better?

A little shortly after, their laughter simmered down, now with Star tapping her wand on her chin, clearly thinking of something while Marco looked at her. He wasn't used to her being so deep in thought. Maybe she was thinking of another ridiculously hilarious pick-up line?

"Hey Marco..." She broke the silence, and was now looking back at Marco.

"Yeah?" He waited whilst expecting another pick-up line. Maybe this one's gonna top off the others that they came up with this morning.

"I... saw on TV that here on Earth, mothers and fathers would usually kiss their children's 'ouchies' to make them go away and help the children feel better. Is that another sort of Earth magic, Marco? And what the heck is an ouchie? There are still so many things I don't know about your world!" she waved her hands around, gesturing to "the world," and Marco chuckled a bit. She's already spent a long time here on Earth, how has she not heard of an 'ouchie' yet?

"Ouchies are these things" he pointed to his head and to his sprained ankle. "Ouchie is just a slang that's taught to younger kids since it's hard for them to pronounce words like 'bruises' or 'wounds' or 'lacerations' or 'injury.' Alright?" Star's mouth was now going "OH". Discovering new things everyday. She was glad to have Marco as her guide. Star thought that it was just another different word, and she didn't even know how to spell it! So she couldn't use Marco's laptop to look it up.

"Huh, then I've been getting ouchies a lot from fighting monsters and stuff, as well as going on these adventures with you." Star stated, wondering if she used the word right.

"Yeah. Same here, Star. I've been getting ouchies too. You aren't alone on that one." He laughed at his own silly statement. Yes, a ton of ouchies ever since Star came here. But he never regretted getting every single one of those.

"Awwwwwee, poor widdle Mawco~" Star was now cooing at him, and Marco rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah, poor widdle ol' me." He smiled a bit, folding his arms behind his back and resting his head on them. He hasn't been called "widdle" in, like, forever. His thoughts wandered back to his parents. He started to wonder what they were gonna have for dinner tonight.

Star moved closer to Marco, fiddling with her hair and looking like she was in deep thought once more. Marco looked over to her, this was kind of bothering him. Was she thinking deeply about Oskar or something? Maybe she was thinking about what kind of burger they were getting? He couldn't keep guessing, so he asked.

"What's on your mind, Star?" The member of the royal family glanced over to him, nervously grinning.

"Well... about what I said about the mothers and father kissing the children's ouchies... is it REALLY Earth magic?"

"Uhh, I guess? If you count unconditional care and loving affection as magic, then yeah. It qualifies as some sort of Earth magic."

"Oh. Is it only the parents who can do this kind of magic?"

"Well... that's not always the case... the thing is, anyone can do that kind of 'magic'. Unless you're some crazy, non-loving monster, then yeah, even you can do this kind of magic, Star." He wasn't trying to imply anything with that, but the way he expressed it made it sound like he was. And Star may or may not have caught that.

"Monster's can't do Earth magic, duh. They aren't from Earth."

"I know Star. But I meant it figuratively."

Star didn't quite grasp what was so figurative about that. But she smiled. The darling princess of Mewni had one more question in mind.

"I'll have you know that since I'm capable of doing magic with my wand, then doing Earth magic won't be any different..."

Marco gulped as he smiled nervously. Where was this going? "Yeah, you can do... magic... but what about it?"

Star paused, gazing at Marco's chest as her eyes traveled slowly upwards... until their eyes met. She then asked, in a low whisper audible enough for both of them to hear: "What if... I... kiss YOUR ouchies away?"

Marco's smile turned into pursed lips. His face burning up. Why did Star have to say it so cutely and out of nowhere like that?!

"O-oh, do Mewmans have the ability to heal creatures using their kisses? If so, then that'd be a great help!" Marco nervously inquired. Why the heck did he feel nervous?! And what did he mean by that last bit? The boy doesn't even know why he himself said that!

"I don't know, Diaz... Care to help me find out?" Marco felt his breath hitch, and Star slowly advanced towards the hoodie-wearing boy. Staying as still as he could because he really didn't need to feel his ouchie acting up again.

In a blink, Star's face was now directly above Marco's. Their gazes intense and locked unto one another's. Then Star smirked. Seeing Marco's eyes so wide and so... full of curiosity? Yet she doesn't know what Marco was so curious about. Maybe he really was curious about Mewmans having healing kisses. Maybe he was curious about why Star had to be so slow and so close. Maybe he was curious about what she was planning. Or maybe... he was curious about how her lips would feel on his again since he seemed to have forgotten?

Star moved in close to his temple, it wasn't bandaged. It just had an ice pack over it. She carefully removed it, setting it to the side and wiped away the moistness that remained on his forehead. Meanwhile, Marco was directly facing Star's neck and her hickey becoming visible once more. He blushed, catching her scent that reminded him of cherries. Then the boy reached towards the curtains and slid it close. The thought of someone just walking in and possibly catching them in the act of doing(or about to do) something dirty was exciting and thrilling, but he still considered their reputations. He really didn't want to get into any trouble. Regardless of how good all of this felt...

The blonde princess kissed his temple, making sure to be as gentle as possible. And Marco sighed heavily, completely disregarding the bit he told himself about getting in trouble. He didn't care about any of that now as her kiss was the only thing in his head. The princess' lips on his temple felt...relaxing. Somehow therapeutic. Maybe Mewmans really DID have healing powers with their kisses? After all, he could feel the pain somewhat ebbing away and all he could focus on was her softness. But then she kissed again. And again. And again. Trailing her kisses down the side of his face, down to his jaw, below his jaw. Every kiss getting more and more hungry, Marco's breath getting heavy. He felt his stomach tying thick knots as he felt Star's lips touch down on the soft part of the left of his neck. But Star went lower. Unzipping his hoodie just a bit and yanking the collar of his undershirt downwards, her lips landed just below his left collarbone. And she started to kiss, her tender lips on his flesh was just absolute heaven, he felt his eyes rolling upwards. He was sighing even heavier now. Then Star started to suck on the soft flesh. Her right hand travelling up, grazing his face, then went to his hair to fiddle with his soft brown locks. Oftentimes gripping, then loosening. Marco felt his chest sting a bit from Star sucking on it. He now just discovered that being on the receiving end of a hickey felt great. He felt her tongue prod at his flesh a bit, then she pulled away with a loud "pop" noise, and that earned her a small whimper from Marco. Star examined the mark she left him, smiled at her creation, and released his collar. Now the bruise was covered up by his undershirt.

But she wasn't done yet. She resumed trailing kisses but upwards this time. On his adam's apple, then right below his chin, then right on his chin, then right at the edge of his lips. She was kissing really gently and carefully now, giving him the feeling of almost kissing her, but not really. Marco felt powerless and small under her power. It was driving him to the point of insanity. She was teasing him, and every time Marco moved his head up to meet her lips, she'd move back just in time. Smirking. How did Star know how to do all this? It had something to do with reading waaay too many magazines and watching a few couple R-18 movies without anyone around.

Marco pouted. It was so unlike him to pout this way. And Star noted that he was doing it so cutely too. "Stop teasing me, Star." He whispered with a voice that was deep and needy. His eyes showing his intense yearning.

"Oh? That's what this was called? I'm teasing you?" Star acted clueless, her voice in a lovely whisper, putting a finger to her lips and looking up. She smirked and looked back down at Marco who was still pouting charmingly. He looked away and pretended to be mad.

She lowered herself down and kissed the side of his forehead, then trailed kisses downwards causing him to face her again, landing a kiss on his nose, above his upper lip. Then kissed around the edges of his lips, teasing him, tormenting him... knowing that he desired it so much but refused to give it to him. This was so cruel... Before eventually, Star couldn't handle it herself and crashed their lips together. Finally obtaining that high they've both been craving. Star moaned into their kiss, she now sat atop of Marco's abdomen, and his hands were wrapped around her lower back, holding her really tightly and pulling her close. This kiss was wilder and more aggressive than the one they shared in her room, that much they can tell. Marco's stomach was doing crazy back-flips, somersaults, and whatever insane acrobatics there were. And his face all the way down to his neck was feeling really hot. This felt even better than the feeling he experienced earlier with his trip to the nurse's office with Jackie. Who was Jackie again? Where were they? What time was it? Did it even matter? All he cared about was this beautiful princess kissing him ever-so passionately right now.

Star felt her head going empty, cleared of absolutely any thought, giving in to the feeling of his warm body beneath hers. She just wanted to melt into his arms. Marco's left hand came up to cup her face and deepened their kiss even further. Marco felt bold today(as if whatever they were currently doing wasn't bold enough for the two of them already), and slowly prodded his tongue on her upper lip. Star, of course, parted her lips further. And their tongues shyly danced with one another. They were still quite new to this so they didn't really know much of what to do but enjoy the feeling of one another's warmth and softness. It felt way too great to even feel a morsel of awkwardness. And to think that an ouchie could lead to something as great as this? If this was the case, then he'd have to ask Star to kiss his ouchies ALL the time. And his with hers. He'd kiss EVERY ouchie she'd ever have just to feel this great, just to experience this amazing connection with her. Star then accidentally rubbed against Marco's navel and slid downwards. Feeling something that was bulging, aching, and warm...

Suddenly, the door to the nurse's office creaked open, very audibly. And Star immediately pulled away. Getting off of Marco and setting herself down the chair next to the bed the boy was lying down on. Both of them very red and staying very silent. Marco flailed around to retrieve his ice pack and placed it back on his head. Thankfully, Marco remembered to slide the curtains close beforehand. So the nurse, sliding the curtains back open, saw not a one of their erotic deeds.

"Alright kid. Just put ice on your sprained ankle when you get home. And try not to move around too much. It'll take ya 6 weeks for that to get better again, so if ya don't want it to take 4 months, I suggest taking it easy. Now go home. Classes are over." The nurse said, signing his excuse letter and handing it to him. The two didn't realize that they had spent so long indulging in one another's lips. Star had Marco's arm slung over her and left the nurse's office, thanking the nurse for her help and was replied with how it was her job and that they shouldn't worry, but she kind of smelled like cigarettes. Star accompanied him to his locker to grab his bag where Janna had left it for him. That girl may be mischievous, but she's actually pretty helpful sometimes... Although he was confident that she must've taken something from his bag, he didn't bother checking his belongings and just decided to go grab a burger that Star had been craving for earlier. But not before Star summoned Cloudy to let Marco rest atop of him and not worsen his condition with his ankle. They enjoyed their burgers and talked about the most dumbest soap operas they've seen while they traveled home and the light of the setting sun making their surroundings look... home-y.

Upon arriving home, however. Star tapped his foot with her wand after chanting some spell really quick, and lo and behold. His foot was okay! It was as if it was by magic! Oh wait... it WAS by magic. Then Marco realized that he should've just asked Star to cast this spell earlier. But Star told him that it was he who wished to not receive her assistance or magical help...

And the both of them were thankful that he didn't.

* * *

 **HEEEEY! ROMICCHI HERE! Did this chapter feel too short for you? Damn it felt like it was way too short for me. But hey, come on. There are a multitude of fanfics out there that only reach up to less than two thousands words. Those ones are painful to read, because they feel like they lack...something... a LOT of somethings. But I ain't calling anyone out or anything, just saying that long stories are cool and that short stories...need to be longer. Wait, what was my point again?**

 **Welp, 12:27am in the morning. My eyelids feel heavier than Popeye's biceps(Yes, I made a Popeye reference.) But I did it! The second chapter to Earth Boy Charms! Thanks again for reviewing, and favoriting, and following, and being amazing-ing readers! Expect the next chapter in about... a week. As usual. Even though this took 3 days to finish. Don't count on a consistent upload schedule! MWAHAHAHAHAHA but for realzies thank ya'll KBYESEEYAAAAAA**


	3. Blissful Silence

**Alright! A quick Author's Note at the very start of ze story! Hope you don't mind!**

 **JJmmmmmlol: No regrets! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! Thanks for staying up so late just to read my story! Stay tuned! I shall deliver to mine readers the best story that my teeny mind can muster!**

 **Smart Mark: Thaaaaanks!**

 **And this is my submission for the Birthday prompt of Wholesome Week 2 happening only on Tumblr! Make sure to follow me! ragnarome . tumblr . com !**

 **Okey! Now on to the storyyyyyyy!**

* * *

Pastry is an artwork, and absolutely not something to be taken lightly. Setting your gaze upon well-made pastry is enough to warm most people's hearts as its heavenly fresh-out-the-oven aroma lures them in, asking them to take a bite. Some pastries are chewy, some pastries are crunchy, some pastries are even a mix of both, and more! But lastly, pastry is no joke. A lesson that a certain latino and alien princess learned first-hand as they nearly finished with their fifth attempt at a birthday cake.

Marco Diaz and Star Butterfly decided to bake a cake for someone's special day. With just a quick search of a simple cake recipe, the two went to have a go at it. Thinking to themselves that if Marco was capable of making his infamous nachos, then a cake would be...well... a piece of cake.

They found out on their third try that they were wrong.

So now, on their fifth attempt. The two could only hope for the best and wish they actually succeeded this time. The red-hoodied boy made sure they followed the recipe and watched tons more of instructional videos this time, with his laptop now sitting on the side of the counter top, slightly covered in bits of flour and a small bit of yeast just on the edge of his keyboard.

Marco looked around the kitchen, sighing as he notes to himself that they should just buy cake next time instead of trying to make one themselves. And that they still had a moderate amount of empty wrappers and flour-covered counters to clean. He looked at Star, who was sitting on the top of the kitchen island, her wand was playing some sort of RnB music and the boy swears that he's heard the singer before. A cover artist maybe? He thinks to himself as he props himself up the island next to Star and asks her what song it was.

"Oh glad you asked! It's sung by this guy called William Singe. The song is called 'Ignition x Don't Mind'. His voice is sooooo heavenly!" The princess started grooving her shoulders to the song, well, to the cover remix mashup of the songs. And Marco does too, Star's explanation confirming that he indeed has seen this William Singe before. He's been on the front page of that YooToob website he showed Star for cat videos and has listened to a few of his covers before. Though he stops grooving abruptly when he hears a very suggestive line from the song and looks at Star with an unsure look.

"Uhh Star? Do you even know what these lyrics mean?"

"Nope!" Of course, the blonde foreigner was aware of the concept of metaphors and expressions and whatnot but was still painfully oblivious to a large majority, if not all, innuendos present in most modern music. "I just stumbled unto his videos one day when I decided to find something different instead of cat videos. And his hair looks so cool! And I like the sound of the music! But I don't understand why he even wants to go eighty on my freeway. We don't even own a freeway, Marco. And what does going eighty mean?"

At the mention of the innuendo, Marco blushed. He thinks it preferable to explain this as soon as he could to avoid her misusing it around here. "Alright, how do I explain this... uhhh..." He looks around the room, avoiding her stare and filled to the brim with awkwardness. Until his eyes landed on the wall clock. It read 11:49AM. So he and Star had spent the entire morning baking. Guess time flies when you mess up your cake three times. He shakes his head and got off the island.

"Star, I'm just gonna go get dressed for the party." Although he meant that he was just going to grab a clean, flour-free, and fresh red hoodie. "I bet they're all waiting for us, or you, rather, to get there already" He smiled before jogging towards the stairs and up to his room. Star flicked her wand downwards and the music stopped, then rushed over to her room as well to do the same.

* * *

The timer rings. The kitchen is clean and the duo now clad in fresh clothes. Marco with his mitts on opens the oven, a hopeful look etched on his face and wondering if they got it right this time. Star's eyes were lit up, excitedly watching her best friend take out the cake and set it down on the clean kitchen island. The princess hurriedly retrieved the icing and cake toppings such as the cherries and sprinkles. Having done this 4 times already, she got the hang of it around the third time and Marco was glad for that.

They both looked at each other as they held the icing tubes in their hands. "Let's do this." They then carefully and "masterfully" dressed the cake with icing. Star, out of some miracle, actually paid attention the instructional videos Marco was watching a little earlier and learned that icing isn't just about splattering the delicious cream all over the cake, Marco said you gotta take it carefully, and carefully she does. The two were so focused on icing the cake that their heads bumped into one another. They chuckled and went back to finish icing the cake. It wasn't perfect, they were getting the icing on their fingers, and on the kitchen island, but once they finished, it looked quite alright. The cake now read, in cursive letters:

"Happy Birthday Janna!" with a banana made from yellow icing next to the name.

"Not bad for a fifth try" Marco puts his hand on his chin and nods to himself. Star puts her hand on his shoulder and smiled sincerely, and Marco's heart felt like melting, why was she so darn cute?

Wait, why is she grinning-

He couldn't finish the thought because Star decided to spray his face with yellow icing. Eliciting a surprised yelp from the brown-eyed boy. And Star snickered, feeling quite triumphant. But she was too indulged in her own little victory moment to notice that Marco was all ready to spray her face with blue icing. And before she could defend from the attack, she now had a face full of blue. She used a finger to swipe a bit off her face to taste it. She beamed at him. "Yum!"

The two bursted out laughing. Setting the icing packets down on the island next to the cake and as their laughter calmed to a halt, Marco grabbed the box of tissues from a cabinet and wiped his face, offering the box to Star for her to do the same and she obliged.

"Alright alright, let's get this cake to Janna. You think she's gonna like it?" Marco retrieves a box from one of the cabinets.

"Pssh, of course she's gonna love it! I think? Whatever, let's go and find out!" She was about to help Marco put the cake in the box before she suddenly halted. Star looked at Marco, a calculating look on her face that she never wore. Marco was confused. "Uhh, what's wrong, Star? You've got a look on your face I've never seen you do before"

"Oh, it's just that you still have a little thingy on your face."

"What thingy?"

"Icing, you still have a bit of icing on your face! Let me take care of it for ya" She leaned close, using her index finger to wipe it off. Marco suddenly felt a rush of exhilaration briefly with how close Star was right now. He bit his lip. And as Star wiped it a bit of it off, she put her finger in her mouth to taste the icing. Even though she clearly knew what the icing tasted like already, she went to look Marco in the eyes, her index finger still in her mouth.

Marco couldn't believe the sight in front of him, he blushed furiously. Why did Star have to look so... enticing? His breath hitched, the strong urge to just grab her and offer some lip-locking was very well present and hard to resist. He was holding back as much as he could.

Star looked at Marco with an unreadable expression, something that said yearning. Her breathing noticeably slightly heavy. She giggled, removing her finger from her mouth and moved back a bit. "Come on, Diaz! Let's head over to Janna's birthday party already! What are you standing around there for?" She placed the cake in a box that Marco took out earlier and had Marco put the cover on. He released a breath he didn't know he was holding, and watched Star bounce all the way out the door. Eagerly awaiting him to follow up.

He nervously laughed to himself. What the heck is happening to him? He wonders as he strolls towards the door with the cake in hand.

Janna opens the door, a pink party hat atop her head instead of her usual beanie. She smiles at the two. "Happy birthday, Janna Banana!" Marco and Star said in unison, he has never said the banana part ever until now, and he even hesitated in doing so before deciding that he was in a joking mood for today.

Janna smirked and eyed the box Marco was holding. "Watcha got there for me, Diaz? A severed racoon-octopus arm?" And the boy chuckled. "Nah, it's just a cake me and Star made. Hope ya like it as much as we enjoyed making it" They did enjoy making it, even having failed almost five times, the process and learning was fun and was something they were considering trying out again soon. He looked at Star and smiled.

"Alright, well come on in ya'll. Let's get this party started!" Janna carefully took the box from him, opened it, and set it on the table with the rest of the food. Star and Marco followed in after closing her door. Her parents were in the living room along with a lot of relatives. Marco realized that Mexican families and Filipino families were huge, so it was understandable that there were a lot of people in here. Janna led them to the backyard where a few familiar faces sat. Star looked at them all with a huge smile.

There was Starfan13, Sabrina, Hope, Justin, Oskar, Jackie, Alfonso, Ferguson, and a few other schoolmates.

They were all just sitting down on this huge table, chilling and chatting as groovy RnB music played from a speaker. Marco never really took Janna as the type to listen to RnB, and quite a coincidence it was as Star was just listening to the same kind of music earlier, Marco noted. Which then reminded him of the whole "going 80 on your freeway" thing with the song Star was listening to. And blushed as he remembered that he still had to explain that.

But spotting Jackie here in Janna's birthday party immediately made him forget about that. And he felt his heartbeat rising just a little bit higher.

Star then sauntered over to Oskar, who miraculously forgot to bring his keytar. Her eyes were all lovey-dovey as she took the conveniently empty seat next to him. Marco felt Janna pushing him towards Jackie and gesturing to the seat next to her. He sighed and smiled at Janna, took a seat next to the skater girl, and nervously smiled at Jackie. The short-haired blonde smiled back at him and asked "Hey, your foot feeling better already? But you sprained it just a few days ago!" She amusedly look him from top to bottom. Her chin resting on her hand.

"Oh, well Star figured out this new spell. And she was able to fix my foot up the moment we got home. Pretty neat, isn't it?"

"Yeah, totally rad. But why didn't she just fix it up in the nurse's office back then?"

"Uhhhh..." Marco then remembered the incident with the nurse's office, his face getting warm and heart pounding. These memories were so thrilling.

Jackie snapped her fingers in front of the boy's face, who looked like he was about to start drooling. "Wha-? Huh?" Jackie chuckled.

"You were... lost in thought, dude?"

"Oh uhh... yeah! Lost in thought."

"You still didn't answer my question though"

"Oh right. Star couldn't fix it up immediately because... she was... too busy cheering me up with more new spells!" He grinned and scratched the back of his neck nervously, hoping that Jackie would buy it. There was clearly no reason for her not to, right?

"That's cool. Hey Star!" Jackie called over, snapping Star out of her lovestruck little world with Oskar Greason.

"Waddup Jackiiie?" She beamed at her and walked over to them.

"Diaz here told me that you were cheering him up with some new spells. Can we see it?"

"What spell..." Star glanced at Marco slowly, still dragging on the last syllable. Marco mouthed the words "just play along" and Star did her best to understand. "...type do you wanna see, guys and gals?"

"Oohh ohh! I wanna see you in a witch costume and fly on a broom!" Janna requested, and Marco was actually also quite curious to see what she'd look like in a witch costume. And she IS capable of magic, but it wasn't considered witchcraft.

Star smiled, it was the birthday girl's request so how could she just deny something like that? Not like she was gonna deny it even if it weren't Janna's birthday today. So she waved her wand in the air and chanted "Swish swish make me a witch!"

Her clothes glowed white, then quickly faded. Now she donned a long dark violet dress with white edges with a slit that ran all the way up 5 inches above her right knee and a tall witch hat. A broom in her left hand and her wand in the right. She did a rather daring pose and looked at Marco. A blush was on his face. He admittedly thought to himself that she looked amazing in that witch costume. But he then realized that Jackie Lynn Thomas was next to him, the warm feeling in his face never leaving him. Why did he feel so attracted to the now cosplaying witch princess when his all-time crush was standing right next to him?

"Sweet! Now I'm gonna fly on this broom and do a thing for the birthday girl!"

"Say it with a witch accent!" Janna exclaimed.

"Witches have accents?" Sabrina looked confused. And Janna rolled her eyes.

"Duhh. Of course they do. Don't you ever watch witch movies? Now come on Star! Do iiiiit!"

Star laughed, then cleared her throat to do her best witch impression. "You kids are in for quite a show! I've got some... witchery up my sleeve for the birthday celebrant" She ended up saying it in a British accent. The only witch movies she and Marco ever watched was that one about a boy with a scar. Harry Pottery, was it? She can't remember.

"Heck yeah! Witch stuff!" Janna excitedly announced. And Star zapped her broom and sat on it. She levitated slowly, and she almost fell off. "Woooahoho. Gonna have to get used to this. Gimme a sec, children." Saying it in half her normal accent, and half in a British accent. She suddenly zoomed into the skies, and past the clouds. A scream of terror or excitement can be heard from the girl before the white puffs in the sky consumed her form.

A feeling of dread balled up in his stomach, and his mouth agape. "Oh no" Marco muttered, but before he could do something about it, Star reappeared. Holding on to the broom and laughing all the way as she glided down back to Earth and blasted the ground right in front of Janna. The birthday girl stepped back as the crack on the ground glowed pink, and as Star landed on the ground ungracefully with an "Ooof!" Vines started sprouting out the crack, clumping up and wrapping and slithering around. Until it suddenly stopped. The vines were intricately and beautifully shaped, and now spelled "Happy Birthday Janna Banana" in cursive.

Everyone's eyes lit up, all woo-ing at her work and cheering. Star walked up to them and grinned.

"Nice! Now let's go eat, guys!" Janna excitedly led them inside to begin their lunch. All of them staring at her buffet and not recognizing a few dishes.

They were all staring at the large roasted pig lying down on a tray shaped especially for it, and Janna explained that her relatives called it "lechon." And that it tastes amazing if you dip it in vinegar mixed with garlic and salt. Then Star pointed at these noodles that had chopped bits of meat and vegetables in with it. Janna says it's called "pansit." which originated from Chinese Hokkien "pian i sit" which translates to "convenient food." But the Filipinos have different styles in making this dish which made it common for them. StarFan13 grabbed a spring roll. It looked like a fried dough stick, but when Janna told her to bite it, turns out there was meat inside it. Janna says it's called "lumpia" by her relatives. And it was delicious! According to Marco who instantly took a liking on his first try of the dish. There were so many Filipino delicacies that the group couldn't remember them all! And they loved them. Janna was a bit disappointed that none of her Filipino relatives brought "balot" though. She planned to freak Marco out with it.

After lunch, the group decided to play a bunch of silly games. Did a lot of karaoke, made spell requests for Star and role played as her being a fairy godmother and before they knew it, evening had come to grace their skies.

The teenagers were now somewhat content, the day was great. But Janna held her hand up and announced something. "So, before ya'll decide to leave. How about one more game?" She revealed an empty bottle that she held behind her back and the teens all gasped. They then grinned and whooped in excitement, looks like things were gonna get juicy. But Marco's eyes were wide as saucers. He felt uneasy about Janna's idea, because knowing her, she probably had something crazy planned. Or who knows, maybe it just turns out to be a regular ol' game of Spin the Bottle without any of Janna's crazy twists in it? Marco shrugged. He decided to just go along with it.

They all went and sat around the table once more. Janna was next to Marco, who was next to Oskar. Then there was Jackie, sitting across Marco. Star was sitting next to Jackie, across from Oskar, and StarFan13 next to the princess. The rest were all in their places.

Justin raised his hand.

"This ain't a class, Justin. Just say what you want to say" Janna jokingly told him, and Justin cleared his throat. "Before we begin, may I request that we have a run through of the rules first? Seeing as the princess here might be new to the game along with some... other inexperienced people."

"Like you?" Janna teased, and Justin laughed. "I've had my fair share of these kinds of games, birthday girl."

Star rolled her eyes with a smile on her face. "Oh puh-lease. I've played Spin The Bottle in a few other dimensions already. It's simple. Whoever two people the bottle ends up pointing at will have to battle to the death and whoever wins gets to loot the corpse of their jewelry and riches! See? I'm not completely clueless, I've been to places, guys!"

Marco slapped his forehead, and everyone else laughed joyously.

Jackie held Star's shoulder. "Okay Star, but we do it differently here on Earth. You see..." Jackie takes the bottle and spins it. "Instead of battling to the death and all that whack stuff, the two people chosen do something else instead..." She waits for the bottle to stop spinning, and Star asks, "Something else?"

"Yehp. What we do instead is..." The bottle stops. And she motions everyone else to finish her sentence, so they all in unison said: "KISS!"

Marco didn't say it as enthusiastically as everyone did, but gazing over at Jackie, he MIGHT have a chance to actually get to smooch his long-time crush!

Star slowly nodded, a blush on her face. Why do they make the two pairs kiss? Earth was so different from other dimensions! But she was up for any kind of challenge, she was the rebel princess, wasn't she? "Pssh. That's it? Easy-peazy!" Star proudly stated, and so Jackie spun the bottle again.

"Alright, then let's find out who our lucky suckers are for the first round!" Janna excitedly announced.

They all watched as the bottle slowed to a halt, and once it stopped, they all gasped.

Hope and Justin.

Justin sheepishly smiled at Hope, but she just nervously laughed and shook her head. "Nope! Nuh-uh! Sorry, not doing that!"

"Then a dare you shall receive, m'lady!" Justin mockingly bowed, then went to rub his chin as he thought deeply. How could he possibly think of a good dare in such a short span of time?

Turns out that didn't have to be a problem as he thought of a good one, it wasn't much, but he wanted to gross someone out.

"Hope! I dare you... to grab one of those loom-pya sticks and dip it in the leftover cake icing... then you gotta convince someone to eat it!" He laughed evilly. And Hope giggled, she was glad it wasn't anything too disgusting. So she ran inside, and came back out shortly afterwards with a lumpia in her hand covered in cake icing. She was now searching for a victim.

Marco was just staring at Jackie and daydreaming about how to impress her when Hope suddenly tapped on his shoulder. He turned to face her when Hope suddenly hovered the lumpia in front of his face. "I choose you, Diaz! Eat it!" She snickered, and Marco shrugged. He and Star were the ones to make the cake and as a matter of fact, he enjoyed it. So he took the lumpia in his mouth and savored it. "Wow, this is actually pretty good. Thanks for giving me another idea for snacks, Justin." To which Justin rolled his eyes, feeling quite disappointed that his plan didn't succeed. But he just laughed it off. "Darn, I thought I really had you that time, Safe Kid!" Marco growled, but he just brushed it off as a joke.

"I'll have you know that me and Star were the ones who made that cake, and it was good. Ain't nothin gon bring me down, Justin" Marco said with a sort of cool touch to it, and they laughed it over before continuing with the game. Hope then spun the bottle and returned to her seat, everyone now eager to see what the second round has in store for them.

The bottle spun and spun, until it slowed to stop...

Janna and StarFan13.

They all laughed joyously, will they go through with it?

Janna laughed and shook her head. "Nahhh, I'd rather have John Keats the poet come back from the dead for ME to smooch~" Janna sighed dreamily, and a lot of people went "Blehhhh" before laughing.

"Alright Janna, then I dare youuu..." StarFan13 looked around to get ideas. And then she saw something and proceeded with her dare "To take Marco's hoodie and put it on Oskar's head as a hat!" Everyone went quiet. "Really, StarFan13? You don't have anything more juicy for me to do like shove the leftovers of the food inside the back of Marco's pants or something?" Janna inquired, but StarFan13 shook her head and grinned widely, her braces in full view. So Janna shrugged and shoved Marco out of his seat "WOAH" he fell to the ground, and Janna stripped him of his hoodie. Leaving him in his gray shirt and watching Janna wrap the hoodie up to turn it into a beanie, an oversized beanie. Then placed it atop Oskar's head.

"Woooaah dope! New hat! Thanks for the birthday gift, Janna!" The musician admired his new headgear, clearly not aware that he had to return it after the game, and Janna dusted her hands as if to say "my job is done." Marco got up and sat properly as Janna took the bottle and spun it.

The bottle spun and spun, its outcome and chosen victims unpredictable. Then it slowed again and stopped at...

Oskar and Jackie.

Star and Marco were shocked. Very much so. Marco was internally panicking but he tried not to make it obvious. Why was this happening? It can't be possible! He was the one sitting across Jackie! But... he realized that the bottle doesn't exactly stay in one place whenever it spins, so it was somewhat possible.

The two looked at each other. Jackie was red with embarrassment and Oskar was just plain lost. "Okay, so what's gonna happen?" and Jackie was shocked. Marco looked at Janna, she was shocked too!

"We kiss. Duh, we were...uhh.. chosen." Jackie had a difficult time getting it out, and she had a hard time accepting it too. She could just say no and have Oskar give her some random dare, but she was tired of turning this into a game of just "spin-the-bottle-then-do-something-lame". So she got up, smirking. Walked up to Oskar and held him by the shoulders. Damn this is awkward, Jackie thinks to herself as she slowly leans in. Star was shocked, true. But she also felt...glad? She didn't know why. So she decided that she didn't want to witness this scene and looked at Marco.. He was clearly upset, but he's trying to hide it. Yet Star could see it as clear as day. She felt sad for her bestie, it must really suck to have your crush kiss your best friend's crush. Then she realized that that was what was happening to her, but she didn't really mind much. Her focus was trained on Marco instead. How his lips were pursed, how his eyes were wide, and how he was sweating. It was saddening, she's gonna look for a way to cheer him up, the princess thinks to herself.

Jackie and Oskar locked lips, and everyone went "woaaaahhh". Marco's mouth was now agape. This just sucked, but he wasn't all that mad like he thought he was going to be, for some reason.

Suddenly, Jackie stomach grumbled. And they pulled away. "Uhhh, guess I had too much of that pansit thing earlier. Excuse me ladies and gents." She walked to the house, clutching her stomach. And Marco felt like laughing now, though he didn't know why.

Oskar, now with a perplexed expression, took the bottle and spun it.

They were now eager for the fourth round as they just witnessed something interesting, when Janna suddenly started stretching her arms, hitting Marco in the face out of nowhere, so he moved to his side to not get caught up in Janna's stretching. "Ow. Janna watch it" He scowled, he didn't know he was knocking Oskar sidewards and off to the side as well, because Oskar wasn't saying anything, after all he was still shocked.

"Sorry Diaz. I was just stretching mah arms. This day was tough on my shoulde-"

"OOOOOOOHHHHHHH!" They all screamed. Whooping and cheering, Janna and Marco hurriedly watched to see who it landed on.

Star and Marco.

The best friends looked at one another. Their faces donning a completely new shade of red they didn't know was possible. Everyone was chanting "Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!" Marco gulped. He didn't know what to do! Should he say no? Then he'd be as lame as Sabrina! But he can't kiss his best friend! Well, they've already done it before, but not in front of everyone like this! Especially not in front of her crush!

Star, on the other hand, was contemplating. Marco looked embarrassed and looked like he was about to make a run for it. She took into consideration that he felt saddened earlier about Oskar and Jackie kissing, so she saw this as a chance to cheer him up! He could just ask her to do a dare!

The blonde climbed atop the table, walked over to Marco and got off. Now seated on the half-Latino's lap, she wrapped her arms around Marco's shoulders and rested her forehead against his.

"Heeeey Marco." She whispered, a small sincere smile on her face. "I know you still feel bummed out about what just happened earlier. So I'm here to cheer you up! Just gimme whatever kind of dare you want me to do. As long as it cheers you up." And Marco looked down. He found it to be so heartwarming that Star was considering his feelings in all this, to know that she hasn't been caught up in being upset that Oskar kissed someone else and instead was thinking about her bestie. His heart skipped a beat when their eyes met. Though he didn't know why. But he decided to think of a dare for her. Maybe make her fight a minotaur? How about she creates sentient golf ball people and make them go to war? Maybe dare her to call her ex-boyfriend and make her say something silly?

But he just decided that he wasn't gonna worry about that. It's just a game, isn't it?

So he moved up to close the distance between their faces and their lips met. They heard everyone go "WOOOAAH YEAAAHH SAFE KIIID!" The teens expressed their enjoyment and amazement in many different slangs and ways.

Marco held Star by her lower back and slightly pulled her close while their lips danced in a steady and gentle rhythm. Not wanting to go all aggressive and wild in front of so many people. Star's lips on his just felt like he was drowning in an ocean of euphoria and dopamine. And to think that just a year ago, Marco never once thought that he'd be here in a birthday party, kissing his best friend. He would've freaked out if someone told him that was gonna happen, but now, he felt more...confident somehow. They enjoyed the contact until Marco decided it was time to part. To which Star's face flashed a look of disappointment before she decided to smile. "Not bad for a THIRD try, Safe Kid." Knowing full well what she meant by third try, he was too high up in the clouds to even notice that she used his most disliked nickname. Star got up and returned to her seat with everyone applauding as if they had just performed an amazing dance performance.

Jackie returned after Marco spun the bottle, taking her seat next to Star, she asked her "So what did I miss?" And Star giggled, her face still flushed. "Oh, you didn't miss a thing, Jackie. Not a thing." Even though her face said otherwise, Jackie shrugged and they all continued with the game.

They got to a few more pairs and got lots of crazy dares, but very little "action." But they all had fun!

After a while, they all decided that it was time to call it a night. They all sang the Happy Birthday song to Janna one more time just for the laughs and went to bid their farewells, but not before Janna teased all the pairs for their "outstanding performances"

* * *

Star and Marco were nearing their home, they walked in blissful silence.

There comes a time where you become so comfortable with someone close to you, that silence no longer becomes awkward. This moment was exactly that, and with smiles on their face, they walked up the porch of the house. Marco opened the door and gestured for the princess to enter first.

"After you, your majesty." He grinned, and Star gasped.

"Why thank you, good sir!" She walked in, trailing her fingers on Marco's chin before he followed after and said,

"No problem, m'lady~"

And the door shuts behind them.

* * *

 **How was it? Let me know with a review! Sorry that this had to arrive late! But I did my best to finish it on time. Expect moooore! Mwahahahahaha! Anyways, thanks for reading, ya'll. Wholesomeweek2 is liiiit!**


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